Birthday GITS

I received my birthday temari swap from Rod in Australia on Friday; I think it is absolutely beautiful! It is a simple 8 division with roses, perfect for a birthday present. His is on the way, but he will not be able to open it until April 24; I will show the one I made for him after that.



I almost completed this temari on Saturday, but I ran out of thread. I need about 2 yards of DMC 743 to finish. This is a s6 division masquerading as a combination division, there are 12 pentagons and 8 hexagons. There are three different patterns on the temari, yellow/buttery roses, white flowers, and green leaves arranged in sort of a spiral. I really like this pattern. The execution is not all that I could have hoped for, the polygons are not very regular; that is something I have to work on.



I have a wonderful souvenir of my grandma's crochet "work."

I didn't get to see my grandma too often after her last visit to us in Illinois. I went to Iowa with my daughters when they were in grade-school, so they could meet my aunts and uncles, and see the country-side that had such an effect on me growing up. A couple of years after that my grandma became very weak and started suffering from congestive heart failure. She died from complications from a broken hip, and I was not able to travel to see her, or to go to the funeral, since I was going through chemotherapy at the time.

When my parents returned from the funeral and from settling the estate, my mom gave me the wooden box my grandma had kept her crochet patterns in. They were all jumbled in the box (including the scrap of fabric she used to teach me how to stitch a colonial knot).

When I saw a picture on eBay of a "sample" crochet book I knew I wanted to organize my grandmother's samples into the same type of book. I ended up with over 20 pages of samples!




These two pages are not all of the handkerchief edgings she collected. I can picture her at Ladies' Aid meeting at church, everyone all dressed up, and she would be checking if anyone had a new lace pattern on a hankie. She would study it, and then go home and work up the pattern on a scrap so she could remember it:



I still have a pair of pillowcases with beautiful lace on it from her as well. I don't use them, because I don't want them to wear out, but if I don't use them, who will?



I always feel like a lot of my skill and interest in needlework came from her, as well as from my mom and my other grandma. I'm very grateful for that heritage.

Sharon B asked as her first question last year "who do you admire?" I didn't make a page, but my answer was nearly instantaneous: Grandma! She raised 4 kids alone (she was a widow), and supported them. She lived a productive and happy life. She made beauty in the lives of everyone around her. Miss you grandma!